Kay Club, Anyone?

Does anyone know what model this is and where I can get parts for it.
I put the palm pedal on it last sunday 'cause I was bored.
The neck started to come off some I shot a deck screw into the heel and it seems to be fine.
Who says carpenters don't rock?

A beauty! I love old Kays ... had one in the '80s but sold it during a time of famine. So i can't join the club, but maybe i can peep through the window during your meetings.

I bought that at Haight St. Music Center on Haight St. in San Francisco, in 1984, for $200.00.
I toured with it, recorded with it, thrown in at at a chick who attacked our singer, loaned it, boned it, defaced it, bled it dry, stuck it in a bag and left it in my parent's cellar, re-strung it and the neck came loose, shot a 3 inch deck screw into the heal and fastened the neck back on, shimmed the bridge with a few washers that I found at the bottom of my toilet tank, and it still plays like it always did,.... great.
The electronics need a little work; 25 years ago an engineer in a recording studio (Tom Mallon,SanFrancisco) said he was getting drums through my "microphonic" pickups so they probably need to be repotted a quarter of a century ago....

Along with my late-seventies Washburn acoustic, the two guitars I will never part with.
Just wish I could find out what model it is and where I can get some parts for it.
I've seen single pickup(neck position)ones on the U-tube but not a 2 p/u version.
I know it's a K-something or other, but that's all I know and that ain't much.

:shock:

I bought that at Haight St. Music Center on Haight St. in San Francisco, in 1984, for $200.00.


I once lived not far from there!

What i'm most impressed with is that you've hung onto it for 26 years. My record re hanging on to good gear is much shabbier. Sorry, i ain't much help on resources, but i will say this: For god's sake, man, don't repot those pickups! (are they DeArmonds?) If it wuz me here and now, i'd tailor an amplification system to suit those pickups. You might hit solid gold.

You're absolutely right about the PickUps. Several people have said that the're probably DeArmonds.
Funny thing about these old Kays; Seems like everyone who's got one paid $200.00 for it.
Old Kay/ $200.00: law of nature or something.
I wish I had taken better care of it,though.
I carved "Pizza" into the headstock and inlaid it with our drummers purple metalflake nail polish, lost the pickguard and replaced it with duct tape and bizarre headlines from newspapers such as "real men kiss cats" or "Reagan says "we start bombing in 5 minutes", stuff like that. Hey, it was the 80's. What can I say.
Somewhere in the early 90's I taped a photocopy of the Nuns with Guns photograph.
Perhaps you've seen it?:...Four old white guys, dressed as nuns, holding rifles...
Now it hangs on a wall in a place of distinction, over the dining room table where my girlfriend says it belongs.
And the pickups, through my 1963 Lectrolab with twin 8"'s really screams.

Mine is a 1964 model. Don't know anything else about it though

Oh my god, that's beautiful!
Now I remember the pickquard.
How does yours play?
Mine has a real nice, even fretboard, the frets must've been redone before I got it in '84, and for some reason it has a brass(?) nut that I should replace with bone at some point.
Lemme guess.
You paid $200 for it, right?:shock:

I paid $500AUD in about 1994. Mine plays great. Don't use it much any more.
The neck is like a baseball bat but I like it. Mine has tiny little frets.
The guy on the Harmony website told me if neck is glued in it was probably a 50's model but when I had it in getting some work on it a few years ago they dated the pots as from 1964.

I have an ancient Old Kraftsman mandolin that I'm told was built by Kay. It was my grandfathers. He bought it second hand at least 50 years ago. It's not an easy instrument to play but has a wonderful patina.

Does anyone know what model this is and where I can get parts for it.


according to the headstock shape you have a early to mid 60's "Truetone" Kay archtop with DeArmond "Cheesegrater" pickups. Parts.. the internet/ebay is really the only source.

Thanks, Arakele.
Just what I wanted to know.
You know if there's a model number on that?

More shots of my Kay. Never new it was a Truetone model.

I'm in.

I have two mid-1930s guitars that went by the fancy moniker of Kay Kraft Deluxe.

Model B "Venetian"

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g5/zombywoof51/Guitars/KayVenetian008.jpg

K-2

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g5/zombywoof51/Guitars/kay_K-2_Front-1.jpg

K312 with replaced tuners. Plays OK. Sounds cool:

http://www.scottmcknight.com/KAY.JPG


WWII Old Kraftsman Archtop

http://www.scottmcknight.com/kay1.JPG

-Scott

My old Trutone...This sounds great through any amp, but really a Twin does it justice:mrgreen:



54032

Heres my 1960 Old Kraftman Value Leader i bought 2 weeks ago

http://a.imageshack.us/img844/4578/kraft3.jpg

Love the old Kay's

Here are a couple I owned in the past
50's model

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k115/asc67/Img_0302.jpg

Late 30's early forties, got it from the original owner with case and warranty card.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k115/asc67/Img_0334.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k115/asc67/Img_0335.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k115/asc67/Img_0337.jpg

New Member.1953 Kay 8901-s with DeArmond Monkey on a stick.
Secret handshake info requested.
I need a pickguard.
Anybody got one?

Heres my 1960 Old Kraftman Value Leader i bought 2 weeks ago

http://a.imageshack.us/img844/4578/kraft3.jpg

I had this guitar totally apart last week and no-ones even ever been inside her before by the looks, original sawdust included. I dated it via electrics etc to 1964. Once setup and intonated this old girl sounds very sweet.
I found 2 NOS trapeze tailpieces for this guitar in my travels and dont know what i am gonig to do with them now i have them :lol:

I have a 1961 Old Kraftsman made by Kay – same model as Kay Vanguard K100. The cheapest electric model Kay made. One pickup in the middle position. Not $200 but close. I probably overpaid at $175 about six years ago. It fretted out pretty much everywhere above the 7th fret. But I thought it had an interesting sound and I got carried away and told my genius luthier to refret it. OMG! It now plays like butter, but the sound is a thick, intoxicating brew. Not high fidelity but for more raw stuff it's killer. I have a bunch of guitars made by Harmony from the 50s and 60s all with Dearmond pickups. I don't know that the Kay pickups are made by Dearmond but the sound is in the ballpark. The guitar is in similar territory to my 50s Harmony H-44. In fact, these two guitars are my main complements to my Telecaster. Yin and two yangs.

Oh yeah, I also have a Kay 703 amp.

I think your guitar is a Kay. Truetone is a store brand name for Western Auto and the guitars were made by Kay. Old Kraftsman is the name for Kays sold through the Spiegel catalog.

I'd post pics but I'm apparently too stupid to figure out how to do it.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f396/uncle_han/410148b5.jpg

This is a 1964 (according to the date code on the pots) Kay Western Auto Truetone I got from a pawn shop. Sweet looking guitar but needs a neckset and a fretjob. Pickup is the cheesegrater style. The truss rod cover was missing and I found one at a Luthier shop that was the exact one for it. I do have the bridge for it.
This is just like the one Telesalivas shows in that picture. I think Jack White has a similar model.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/217742_10150162892902636_585152635_6924428_8040235 _n.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f396/uncle_han/410148b5.jpg

We have one of these for cheap on the local craigslist. How do you like it?

Just stumbled across another one. Kinda a min-Gibson J200 looking thing. Ladder braced, spruce top, laminate maple back and sides, maple neck (with some nice flame in it which is a bonus) and the thickest walnut board I have ever seen. Poor child had been stripped of many of its parts but after some rummaging through my parts bin I almost got it back on the road. Here she be with its big sister - my 1960 J200.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g5/zombywoof51/Guitars/Kay6120001.jpg

heres my speed demon-
built between 62-64

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/fraserkaro/kayspeeddemon-fraser-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/fraserkaro/kayspeeddemon4-fraser.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/fraserkaro/kayspeeddemon3-fraser.jpg

j.s moore rewound the dead bridge pup- http://www.tonefordays.com/

bridge is a modified replacement, and the 4 way rotary switch is new.
a couple of the knobs are new as well.